The Holy Family

c. 1527/1528

Agnolo Bronzino

Painter, Florentine, 1503 - 1572

Two women, a man, and two pudgy children create a close-knit group against a dark brown background in this vertical painting. The people all have pale skin with rosy cheeks, blond or copper-colored hair, and delicate gold rings as halos. One child, Jesus, sits on a stone surface at the center of the composition. He leans onto one hip so his feet rest off to our left. His right arm reaches across his chest as he holds up the first two fingers of that hand. He turns his head back to our left to look up at Mary, who stands behind him to our left as she bends down close to the child. She tips her head to our left, and she looks down and off in that direction with brown eyes. A spring-green cloth loops around a white headdress and drapes around her neck. She wears a teal-blue robe over a cranberry-pink dress. In front of her and to our left, Saint Anne, leans toward Jesus from next to the stone. Saint Anne’s skin is notably pale, and wrinkles line her eyes and lips, which are parted. Her face tips up as she gazes heavenward with deep-set eyes. A white cloth drapes over her head and around her shoulders over a lilac-purple garment. She holds a broken staff like walking stick with the hand we see in the lower left corner of the painting. In the lower right and in front of the stone, the second child, Saint John the Baptist, looks at us with wide-set, serious eyes as he points up to Jesus. Saint John has brown curls and pudgy cheeks. A fawn-brown cloth drapes over his far shoulder. Finally, a young man with a wispy beard stands back-to-back with Mary so he fills the upper right corner of the composition. He turns his head to look down over his right shoulder. A gray-blue cloth wraps around his head, and he also holds a broken staff.

Media Options

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On View

West Building Main Floor, Gallery 21

Artwork overview

  • Medium

    oil on panel

  • Credit Line

    Samuel H. Kress Collection

  • Dimensions

    overall: 101.3 x 78.7 cm (39 7/8 x 31 in.)
    framed: 147.3 x 123.2 x 8.9 cm (58 x 48 1/2 x 3 1/2 in.)

  • Accession

    1939.1.387

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Possibly Capponi collection, Florence.[1] (Count Alessandro Contini Bonacossi, Florence); sold 1937 to the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York;[2] gift 1939 to NGA.
[1] According to the Kress records in NGA curatorial files.
[2] See also The Kress Collection Digital Archive, https://kress.nga.gov/Detail/objects/2191.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1939

  • Masterworks of Five Centuries, Golden Gate International Exposition, San Francisco, 1939, no. 47, repro., as by Pontormo.

  • Dutch and Italian Masterpieces from the Samuel H. Kress Collection, Dayton Art Institute, 1939-1940, no cat., as by Pontormo.

1940

  • Masterpieces of Art. European & American Paintings 1500-1900, New York World's Fair, 1940, no. 12, repro., as Holy Family with Sts. Joseph, Ann, and the Young Saint John by Pontormo.

2010

  • Bronzino. Artist and Poet at the Court of the Medici., Palazzo Strozzi, Florence, 2010-2011, no. I.2, repro.

2016

  • Maniera: Pontormo, Bronzino und das Florenz der Medici, Städelsches Kunstinstitut und Städtische Galerie, Frankfurt, 2016.

Bibliography

1941

  • Preliminary Catalogue of Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1941: 158-159, no. 480, as by Pontormo.

1942

  • Book of Illustrations. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1942: 249, repro. 171, as by Pontormo.

1944

  • Frankfurter, Alfred M. The Kress Collection in the National Gallery. New York, 1944: 41, repro., as by Pontormo.

1945

  • Paintings and Sculpture from the Kress Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1945 (reprinted 1947, 1949): 120, repro., as by Pontormo.

1951

  • Einstein, Lewis. Looking at Italian Pictures in the National Gallery of Art. Washington, 1951: 66-70, repro. 71, as by Pontormo.

1959

  • Paintings and Sculpture from the Samuel H. Kress Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1959: 108, repro., as by Pontormo.

1963

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. New York, 1963 (reprinted 1964 in French, German, and Spanish): 307, repro., as by Pontormo.

  • Berenson, Bernard. Italian Pictures of the Renaissance. Florentine School. 2 vols. London, 1963: 1:182, as by Pontormo.

1965

  • Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 104, as by Pontormo.

1968

  • National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 92, repro., as by Pontormo.

1972

  • Fredericksen, Burton B., and Federico Zeri. Census of Pre-Nineteenth Century Italian Paintings in North American Public Collections. Cambridge, MA, 1972: 36, 646.

1973

  • Shapley, Fern Rusk. Paintings from the Samuel H. Kress Collection: Italian Schools, XVI-XVIII Century. London, 1973: 10-11, fig. 20.

1975

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 272, repro., as by Pontormo.

1979

  • Shapley, Fern Rusk. Catalogue of the Italian Paintings. 2 vols. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1979: 1:374-376, 2:pl. 271.

1984

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 187, no. 208, color repro., as by Pontormo.

1985

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 316, repro., as by Pontormo.

1991

  • Morandotti, Alessandro. "La fortuna collezionistica della pittura gotica e rinascimentale fra Ottocento e Novecento." In Mauro Natale, ed. Pittura italiana dal '300 al '500. Milan, 1991: fig. 18, as by Pontormo.

1994

  • Costamagna, Philippe. Pontormo. Milan, 1994: 72, 80, 292, 301, 306, 322, 329-330, cat. A136.

1995

  • Conti, Alessandro. Pontormo. Milan, 1995: 49, as Workshop of Pontormo with Jacopino del Conte (?).

2004

  • Hand, John Oliver. National Gallery of Art: Master Paintings from the Collection. Washington and New York, 2004: 82, no. 59, color repro.

  • Hiller von Gaertringen, Rudolf. Italienische Gemälde im Städel 1300-1550: Toskana und Umbrien. Kataloge der Gemälde im Städelschen Kunstinstitut Frankfurt am Main. Mainz, 2004: 485.

Wikidata ID

Q20175897

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